When the
Bowl Championship Series
was formed in 1998, television coverage was consolidated on the
ABC Television Network
. Beginning with the 2006 season, the
Fox Broadcasting Company
took over television coverage of the
Sugar Bowl
,
Orange Bowl
, and
Fiesta Bowl
games. ABC retained the
Rose Bowl game
under a separate contract.
[1]
Radio
broadcast coverage has been on
ESPN Radio
.
Television
[
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]
From 1999 to 2006 (1998?2005 seasons), all games of the BCS were televised by
ABC Sports
. Generally, coverage consisted of two games on
New Year's Day
, one on January 2, and one on either January 3 or 4. ABC paid nearly $25 million per year for the broadcast rights to the Fiesta, Sugar and Orange bowls during that time.
[1]
[2]
Overall, the contract was worth $550 million over the eight years for all the bowl games.
[3]
Starting with the 2006 season, coverage would be split between ABC and
Fox
. Fox paid for each bowl game
US$
20 million.
[4]
Four of the BCS bowl games were on FOX: the
Orange Bowl
,
Sugar Bowl
,
Fiesta Bowl
, and a new fifth game, the
BCS National Championship Game
. ABC will continue to broadcast the
Rose Bowl Game
. ABC had a $300 million eight-year contract that extends to 2014 for the broadcast rights for the Rose Bowl.
[3]
In 2007, ABC and Fox showed one game each on January 1, Fox then showed one game each on January 2 and 3 and came back with the championship game on January 8. A similar schedule is planned for future years.
Fox showed all BCS championship games the first three years of the contract, while in 2010 the Rose Bowl stadium was the location of the BCS Championship game, and ABC televised it.
In 2011,
ESPN
will televise all BCS championship games from January 2011 through January 2014. This is the most prominent sports championship not shown on broadcast television. The 2011 BCS championship was the most watched program in the history of cable television, with 27.3 million viewers in 17.7 million households.
[5]
2013?14 announcers
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2012?13 announcers
[
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2011?12 announcers
[
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]
2010?11 announcers
[
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2009?10 announcers
[
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2008?09 announcers
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]
2007?08 announcers
[
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]
From Fox Sports, December 4, 2007.
[6]
2006?07 announcers
[
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]
Previous seasons
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]
In 1999, 2002, 2003, and 2006,
Keith Jackson
was the play-by-play announcer for the national championship, with
Bob Griese
in 1999,
Dan Fouts
in 2003 and 2006, and
Tim Brant
in 2002.
Brent Musburger
and
Gary Danielson
were the announcers for the 2000 and 2004 title games, while
Brad Nessler
and Griese called the 2001 and 2005 title games.
Other ESPN/ABC announcers who called the various BCS games during its eight-year run were
Mike Tirico
,
Sean McDonough
,
Ed Cunningham
,
Kirk Herbstreit
,
Bob Davie
,
David Norrie
,
Terry Bowden
, and
Dean Blevins
. Sideline reporters primarily included
Lynn Swann
,
Todd Harris
, and
Jack Arute
.
Radio
[
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]
ESPN Radio
provides coverage of all five games. Usually, the announcers called games on television throughout the regular season. For example,
Ron Franklin
and Davie called the
2006 Rose Bowl
for the network, and
Holly Rowe
was the sideline reporter.
2013?14 announcers
[
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]
2012?13 announcers
[
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]
2011?12 announcers
[
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]
2010?11 announcers
[
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]
2009?10 announcers
[
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]
2008?09 announcers
[
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]
2007?08 announcers
[
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]
2006?07 announcers
[
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]
Relationship between co-holders
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]
FOX currently is not permitting ESPN to re-broadcast BCS game highlights. For example, despite both the historic nature of the
2007 BCS championship game
(
Florida
's win gave it simultaneous
Division I
football
and
basketball
championships, which had never before been accomplished) and the compelling
2007 Fiesta Bowl
, Fox would not allow
ESPN Classic
(a sister network to rights co-holder ESPN) to show the games as "instant classics." Instead,
Fox Sports Net
aired both games as hour-long versions of
The Best Damn Sports Show Period
later in January.
Similarly, some ESPN programs were not allowed to show highlights of any of Fox's BCS games, at least not some days removed from them. For example, when
Ted Ginn Jr.
was the subject of "happy trails" during an episode of
Pardon the Interruption
that aired in mid-February, the show's producers could only show
still photographs
from the contest, not even clips of his opening kickoff runback for a touchdown (Ginn Jr. had announced that he was entering the
NFL Draft
). Also, videotape of the same game was missing from ESPN's coverage of the Gators' repeat championship win in the
basketball tournament
later that year. However, it is unknown if ESPN or its other channels had sought to air footage from the BCS title game.
However, footage did appear on ESPN's
ESPY Awards
that July and again on the
SportsCenter
specials "Year in Review" and "Top 10 Games" in December.
In 2008, the relationship between the Rose Bowl and the BCS was downplayed before and during the telecast. Pre-game promotional announcements that aired on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC did not mention the BCS in any way. During the
USC-Illinois game
, the logo was not displayed and the announcers did not mention on-air that the game was part of the series. As for footage, Fox did consent to share highlights with ESPN, but those that aired on discussion shows like
First Take
contained the continuous label "COURTESY Fox SPORTS." Those on
SportsCenter
did not carry the label. Plans for long-term use remain unclear. However, ESPN will hold exclusive rights to all BCS products (including footage and internet) starting with the 2011 edition.
See also
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References
[
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]
- ^
a
b
ABC Pulls Its BCS Bowl Bid
. NCAA Sports, November 20, 2004
- ^
Michael Hiestand ?
Fox to announce deal to air Fiesta, Orange, Sugar bowls in 06
. USA Today, November 21, 2004
- ^
a
b
Keith Dunnavant ?
The Muddle In The BCS Huddle: Will a deal to expand the Bowl Championship Series get sacked by TV?
BusinessWeek, October 4, 2004
- ^
Steven Zeitchik ?
Fox faces BCS contract challenges
. The Hollywood Reporter, December 28, 2007
- ^
"Football's Top Commentators to Work ESPN's Bowl Game Coverage | ESPN MediaZone"
. Archived from
the original
on December 6, 2011
. Retrieved
January 2,
2012
.
- ^
Fox Sports Announces BCS Broadcast Teams
Archived
December 25, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
BCS ON Fox ? 2008, December 4, 2007
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